I'm increasingly convinced that the showboating is a last ditch effort to scare regulators/politicians/someone/anyone into promising a full bailout in an attempt to avoid the impending oversight. When the SVB asset network is unwrapped, my guess is that it's going to turn out to be almost 100% circular, a cyclic engine designed to fund the startup and eventual acquisition of company after company while the owners (who own both the startups and the bank!) take a cut at each step. There's really no better explanation for how all these startups all ended up buying 100% commodity banking services from one institution.
Somewhere in the last decade, the smart VC's stopped getting paid in unicorn exits and started running the business like a cartel. And my guess it that's going to turn out to have been questionably legal in a few corners.
> the showboating is a last ditch effort to scare regulators/politicians/someone/anyone into promising a full bailout in an attempt to avoid the impending oversight
Then it would be more targeted. To the degree this is happening, it’s with the Treasury, and it’s coming from rural banks. Not Silicon Valley. Tan and Cuban’s tweets come to mind as those which sound nice to their founders but solidify opposition on the Financial Services and Banking committees for being so brazenly out of touch.
Do you think Cuban and Tan’s tweets would’ve been more well received if they had instead stressed swift movement on FDIC assisting depositors in obtaining immediate cash liquidity to meet short term obligations with the understanding that the industry (companies and investors collectively) would likely eat any deposit shortfall (versus “the sky is falling! Bailouts pls!”)? TLDR More humility and less demanding.
Ha, well, I was clearly wrong. But the feedback I got was that of crypto bros asking for bailouts resembling a frathouse, after a loud and nightlong party, torching the house and telling their neighbours they'd better help out else their homes will burn too.
Somewhere in the last decade, the smart VC's stopped getting paid in unicorn exits and started running the business like a cartel. And my guess it that's going to turn out to have been questionably legal in a few corners.